Security Council yields on US rule

By Caroline Overington, Herald Correspondent in New York and agenciesMay 23 2003

THE CONCESSIONS

A Security Council review of the implementation of the resolution within a year.

A continued, though limited, role for the UN.

The possible return of UN weapons inspectors.

Up to six months to phase out the UN oil-for-food program, allowing the Secretary-General to honour billions of dollars in contracts.

All countries to freeze the assets of members of the ousted regime and transfer them to the development fund.

France, Russia and Germany have agreed to support a United Nations Security Council resolution that would put the United States and Britain in control of Iraq until an independent government is established.

The resolution also lifts the 12-year-old sanctions on Iraq, and phases out the oil-for-food program.

The French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, said France had agreed to support the resolution, although it did "not go as far as we had hoped".

France, Russia and Germany forced the US to make more than 90 changes to its original draft, which was presented a little under a week ago.");document.write("

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The key area of concern was the role the UN would play in postwar Iraq. France was also concerned that the resolution does not specify how long the US and Britain can rule Iraq.

Under the terms of the new draft, the Secretary-General of the UN will be allowed to appoint a "special representative" with "independent powers" to oversee the UN relief and reconstruction efforts and to participate in the transition to an Iraqi government.

It is not clear if the Bush Administration's choice for the job, Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, will be willing to take on the job, but he was expected to arrive in New York soon for consultations.

The co-operative nature of the negotiations soothed the raw edge of emotion that had characterised Security Council relations in the struggle over a resolution that would explicitly authorise the US-led invasion of Iraq.

"The UN is back in the game," Mr Villepin said at a press conference in Paris on Wednesday that was also attended by the foreign ministers of Germany and Russia. "It's a good compromise."

The end of sanctions means money from the sale of Iraqi oil can be used to repair the country.

The vote on the resolution was expected to be held late last night, Sydney time. The US was hoping for a 15-0 vote in favour.

China was expected to vote for the resolution but Syria, the only Arab nation on the Security Council, was considering whether to abstain.

The new draft fell short of a Russian call for the return of UN inspectors to Iraq to certify that its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons had been eliminated. But it left the door open to their possible return at a future date.

It tacitly accepted that US and British forces are now responsible for arms inspections by "encouraging" them to keep the council informed of their activities in that field.

In Baghdad, Goran Talabani, an official of the Pentagon-backed Iraqi National Congress, said his group was concerned about the draft's description of a proposed interim administration for Iraq as a "provisional authority" rather than a "provisional government".